In addition to pursuing solo careers—she as a violinist and he as an actor—Maria Millar (B.M. '00, M.M. '01, violin) and Michael Goldstrom (Drama, Group 30) perform as the duo Ping, combining storytelling and music. The two began collaborating as students at Juilliard and received Community Service Fellowships to perform in hospitals, senior centers, and schools; they found the partnership so rewarding that they continued it after graduation.

Maria Millar (left) and Michael Goldstrom duke it out as the music and storytelling duo Ping. Photo by Francis Schklowsky

Ping's performances merge stories and music from cultures as diverse as Argentina, China, and Scotland. Michael Goldstrom might tell an Irish folktale as Maria Millar plays a jig, or the sound of the violin may become the character of an animal in a Native-American story. The duo also reacts to the audience, calming a room full of jumpy children with a soft lullaby before beginning more interactive portions of the performance. Goldstrom builds the stories along a framework that he and Millar have set in advance, adding details provided by the audience—asking them, perhaps, to name a character or demonstrate the way a person dances. Each performance is unique and charged with the energy of the exchange. Ping's recent project is AdlerFantasia, a show that is part theater, part concert, and part tribute to Jacob Adler, a star of the Yiddish theater. There are plans for a workshop performance in May at the Stella Adler Studio in New York.

Goldstrom and Millar speak passionately about creative collaboration. He expresses his ideas on the topic in a variety of accents while hunting for the perfect metaphor; she pauses and presents a succinct statement of her beliefs. They build off each other's ideas in conversation as they do in performance. Goldstrom believes that an individual's powers of communication are limited. "We both have these very strong feelings and ideas that we want to spew out," he says. "Sometimes what we've been focusing on—whether it's acting or the violin—it doesn't encompass it enough." By working together, two artists can create a final product that neither would have dreamed of on his or her own.

The two chose to attend Juilliard because they knew it to be a place with leading artists in many fields. However, as students, they found it challenging to create opportunities to collaborate with students outside their own divisions. "You really have to go out of your way to get involved because you don't get credit for it," Millar says. "Even though, in the mission statement of Juilliard, they say Interarts is the goal, I don't think there are enough structured courses that offer credit for that." Goldstrom adds that, in order to attend a class taught by Dalcroze specialist Robert Abramson (a mentor to the duo), he had to skip a class in the Drama Division.

The most satisfying connection is between the performer and the audience, Goldstrom says: "You have to be committed to wanting to communicate with an audience or with other people." Millar adds, "You have to believe in it. It has to be something you think is very important." Goldstrom finishes the thought: "You have to care about other people. I care that they are getting what I'm saying. I care that they are enjoying themselves, or they're hearing what I'm saying, because I like you. I fundamentally like you," he says. "Until you start yelling at me, in which I case I really don't like you. And then I'd stop performing."

For more information on Ping, visit its Web site: www.pingtale.com.

—Lisa Yelon